No Blood Clots From Vaccine In SVG: Chief Medical Officer

(By Ernesto Cooke) – There have been no blood clots associated with the administration of Astra Zeneca vaccines in St Vincent and the Grenadines.

Chief Medical Officer Simone Keizer Beache on Tuesday afternoon said that they have been on the lookout for those instances.

“Even though we have had instances where persons have had clots, we have determined with further investigations through the blood picture that those clots were not typical of those associated with AstraZeneca, neither did they have any of the symptoms.”

“For example, the symptoms to which I speak is, low platelet count and other features typical of clots associated with the Astra Zeneca vaccine.”

No Deaths From Vaccine Says Health Minister St Clair Prince

There have been reports that several persons who have been vaccinated with the Astra Zeneca vaccine have died from complications attributed to the vaccine.

However, Minister of Health St Clair Prince on Tuesday afternoon said no such deaths took place.

“I will say here this afternoon, no deaths have occurred due to vaccination; I will repeat emphatically, No Deaths.”

The European Medicine Agency said the Astra Zeneca vaccine might be associated with sporadic cases of blood clots associated with thrombocytopenia, i.e., low levels of blood platelets (elements in the blood that help it to clot) with or without bleeding, including rare cases of clots in the vessels draining blood from the brain (CVST).

Prince also said on Tuesday that Fifty-Four cases of COVID-19 had been linked to emergency shelters.

“The decrease in the wearing of masks and mass gatherings is a worrying trend; I urge persons to follow the protocols,” the Minister said.

Prince said the vaccine campaign is still underway, stating that the country has received a second batch of Astra Zeneca from the COVAX facility.

The vaccine has been administered to over 20,000 individuals.